Are there any others out there who don’t like to leave reviews unless you feel like it was a 5 star read because giving anything less feels too harsh? Because I kind of get confused when someone writes a GLOWING review about how good a book was and that they enjoyed it but then give it 3 stars? I get 3 isn’t necessarily bad but it seems so low to me.
For those of you who never or rarely give 5 stars I’d love to hear what makes a 5 star book for you? what boxes need to be checked for you to leave a 5 star review?

hey yall i've been Going Through It™ recently and was wondering if anyone had recommendations for silly, chill, comfy, maybe even a little spicy comfort reads? my current go to is A Wolf In The Garden by Allegra Hall which i picked up on a whim a few years back and i've read it multiple times now. but i feel like i should probably mix it up a little.

(I looked up “fantasy colonialism” in the club search bar, but this could be a repeat post just lmk)

How do y’all feel about fantasies with real world issues?? I’m not talking about allegories or metaphors but rather straight up colonialism (and all that comes with it) in fantasy novels. I think it’s a good way for authors to prompt readers to think about these issues in the real world after seeing them in a fantasy book, but I was wondering if it was maybe too easy for the characters to “fix” the problem.

Idk I’m reading The Unbroken by CL Clark rn and it got me thinking about it

This year's Spotify Wrapped is out and I thought it would be a good time to start a little recommendation game based on your most streamed album(/artist/song) this year! I recently saw a post doing a similar thing with the Letterboxd Four and thought it was a super cute idea.

Just post your personal album of the year in the comments and other users will do their best to find a book with similar vibes. (Of course you don't have to use Spotify to participate.)

Happy Wednesday!!!!!! It’s time for Who’s Who Wednesday where every Wednesday we introduce ourselves and make new friends. This is part 10.

If you participated any of the times before, you don’t have to introduce yourself again but you can share some different facts about you, an opinion you have, or how your week is going.

If you’re new, introduce yourself!

I’ll go first.

My name is JadeLovesBooks.

I hate parallel parking and I simply will not do it. I can do it when no one’s around. But when people are WAITING on me I can’t do it. My brain glitches out.

I’m really good at essays. One time, in college, I wrote a whole 10 page paper the day before it was due and got an A+. But MATH? Absolutely not.

I buy chapstick and lose it precisely one hour later. It’s so annoying. My brain is chaotic. I have a huge ass bright pink fuzzy keychain so I don’t lose my keys.

I'm coming to you, friends of pagebound, and I'm going to be open and vulnerable and admit that I have a bias against the way male authors write romantic relationships within fiction. I can fairly confidently say that I have never read a compelling romance written by a man. I feel like it often leans toward very quick, in and out type scenes, very physical and unemotional. My husband just read me a snippet from the book he's reading right now (World Without End by Ken Follet) and it made him laugh and me cringe. I'm so willing to be proven wrong about this, and I would love recommendations on books written by men where the romantic relationships are believable and loving. I will admit that the majority of books that I read are written by women, and I want to be able to leave this bias that I have in the past! I want evidence that this prejudice that I have is completely unfounded, and I just haven't read the right books yet.

Editing to add that I'm really hoping I'm not coming off as not being genuine in any way, I'm really hoping for recommendations for books that readers love! I love love, and I love reading about love and romance, regardless of the genre too! Some of the relationships that I have personally found the most compelling have been in historical fiction, sci-fi, or fantasy novels! I'm equal opportunity when it comes to reading about romance 💖

Hey guys. I've not been reading these past few days but a question has been nagging my mind. Because I watch a lot of youtube videos and bookstagram and I see people owning like 5-6 editions of the same book and I'm like... Why? Is one not enough? (Sounds rude but it's a genuine question 😭) I personally do think that owning 5-6 editions of the same book is over consumption because it's a marketing tactic to increase sales and we're falling right into it. Kind of like musicians releasing 12 different versions of the same album. Like I get it. You want to support the author but you can do that buying their book once too. But I'm sure people disagree and I'm genuinely curious to know why. Why would one have multiple editions of the same book? Do let me know! I'd like to broaden my perspective on this.

Do you have any strong opinions on YA novels?? Like what should/should not be included theme-wise?? Anything you can think of will help :)

i'm actually starting to get into this now. it's not the language that i struggled with as much as the time period's classism and uncomfortable level of candor. it makes for an interesting experience when you are growing to like a character yet fundamentally disagree with how they view other people.